Student and Community Health Center Opens at CVHS
Castro Valley school officials celebrate opening the health center for students and the community. The office will be open Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
On Monday, a crowd of Castro Valley school district and community leaders officially opened the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center at Castro Valley High School. The center is designed to serve students, their families, and the general public seven days a week.
“The health and wellness of our students and community is what our district and this new Health Center stand for. I’m so proud to be a part of this exciting opportunity for everyone,” said Castro Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) superintendent Parvin Ahmadi.
Starting this week, the Center will be open for services Monday through Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Appointments will be available via text or phone. Students can scan a QR code as they enter to check-in. Visitors can receive physical exams, sports physicals, immunizations and boosters, pharmacy prescriptions, reproductive health services, and referrals for dental and mental health services.
School officials said there will be a soft opening for the first 2-3 weeks to ensure everything is running smoothly.
The 1,920-square-foot health center includes four exam rooms, a small conference room, and a lab room stocked with vaccines and equipment for processing. There is also a station for weighing infants and another designed to treat emergency traumas. The lobby includes a place for patients to check in and is wheelchair accessible.
The health center will be staffed by qualified healthcare professionals, including a nurse practitioner, two medical assistants, a receptionist, and a supervisor.
The center is run through a CVUSD and the Tiburcio Vasquez Health Center (TVHC) partnership. The nonprofit community health group also operates school-based health centers at Tennyson High, Hayward High, and Logan High Schools. Only Logan and Castro Valley’s sites are also available to the public.
“One of our goals at TVHC is health equity. And we see it so many times in our youth who may not have access to the health services they need,” said TVHC CEO Andrea Schwab-Gallindo. “This center provides them a gateway to a range of health options, which is why this collaboration is so important on a school site.”
The affiliation with TVHC allows CVUSD to be able to tap into the nonprofit’s healthcare network that focuses on underserved communities throughout the Bay Area. According to Superintendent Ahmadi, about 37 percent of CVUSD’s student population qualifies for government-assisted healthcare.
To make the center possible, CVUSD combined two portable classrooms that previously housed the CVHS Wellness Center between the 500 hall and F-wing buildings at the northwest end of the campus. The renovations alone cost $122,400, of which CVUSD paid $22,400 from its budget and an investment of $100,000 from Fremont Bank and its Foundation.
“We know that education along with physical and mental health is important for our youth,” said Brian Hughes, President and Executive Director at Fremont Bank Foundation. “We are excited to know this clinic will take care of people for many years to come.”
The idea of bringing a health clinic to the high school started in 2015 when a few district trustees contacted the TVHC team. The COVID pandemic highlighted the need for community access to immunizations, testing, and increased on-site health care for students and families.